Erik Larson - In the Garden of Beasts

1 “I shall not attend the address”: Dodd, Diary , 127.

Sir Eric Phipps, in his own diary, wrote, “So long as the Reichstag merely serves as a convenient platform for the glorification of crime and for attacks on foreign heads of mission in Berlin, I propose to leave vacant the seat which in normal circumstances The King’s representative might be glad occasionally to occupy.” Phipps, 68.

2 “Deputies,” Hitler said: A translation of Hitler’s speech appears in Gallo, 298–307. Most accounts agree that Hitler claimed only seventy-seven people had been killed, though at least one (Evans, Power , 39) states that Hitler put the number at seventy-four. See also Birchall, 209.

3 Had Dodd been present: Birchall, 209.

4 “They stood face to face on the dais”: Ibid.

5 “NOTHING MORE REPULSIVE”: Dodd to Hull, July 14, 1934, Box 44, W. E. Dodd Papers.

In Washington, Jay Pierrepont Moffat was able to listen to Hitler’s speech over the radio. “It struck me as full of banalities and by far the weakest speech he has thus far made,” Moffat wrote in his diary entry for July 13, 1934. “The transmission was extraordinarily clear. He has a curious rasping voice which at moments of excitement rose almost to a shriek. He gave no proof of the conspiracy and his remarks with regard to the outside world were distinctly weak.” Moffat, Diary, July 13, 1934.

6 “as if they were chloroformed”: Quoted in Conradi, 168.

7 “A few days ago in Germany”: Quoted in Hull to Roosevelt, July 13, 1934, State/Foreign.

8 Dodd at first seemed inclined to believe: For the evolution of Dodd’s thinking, see Dodd to Hull, July 2, 1934; Dodd to Hull, July 5, 1934; Dodd to Hull, July 6, 1934; and Dodd to Hull, July 7, 1934, all in State/Foreign.

9 Britain’s Sir Eric Phipps initially accepted the official story: Phipps, 14, 61.

10 “It has not increased his charm”: Ibid., 76.

11 “a type of gangland bloodbath”: Kershaw, Hubris , 522.

12 “I… had no idea that this hour of lightning”: Diels, 382.

13 An intelligence report from the exiled Social Democrats: Kershaw, Myth , 87.

14 “an even more terroristic regime”: Dodd to Hull, Aug. 2, 1934, Box 44, W. E. Dodd Papers.

15 “The people hardly noticed this complete coup d’etat”: Klemperer, Witness , 80.

16 “Today Hitler is the Whole of Germany”: Kershaw, Myth , 68.

17 “At a time when nearly every German”: Dodd, Diary , 140–41.

1 “I am very sad”: Boris to Martha, July 11, 1934, Box 10, Martha Dodd Papers. Also see, Boris to Martha, “late July-1934,” and Boris to Martha, “early Aug. 1934,” both also in Box 10.

2 “You are the one”: Boris to Martha, Aug. 5, 1934, Box 10, Martha Dodd Papers.

3 Martha was approached by emissaries: Weinstein and Vassiliev, 52.

4 “The entire Dodd family”: Ibid., 52; Vassiliev, Notebooks, White Notebook #2, 25.

5 she formally petitioned Stalin: Weinstein and Vassiliev, 55; Vassiliev, Notebooks, White Notebook #2, 37, March 14, 1937.

6 “in the interests of business”: Weinstein and Vassiliev, 58. A slightly different translation appears at Vassiliev, Notebooks, White Notebook #2, 33.

7 “I don’t quite understand”: Weinstein and Vassiliev, 58; Vassiliev, Notebooks, White Notebook #2, 45, March 21, 1937.

8 “Juliet #2”: Weinstein and Vassiliev, 58–59; Vassiliev, Notebooks, White Notebook #2, 45, March 21, 1937.

9 The meeting “went off well”: Weinstein and Vassiliev, 59; Vassiliev, Notebooks, White Notebook #2, 51, Nov. 12, 1937. Here the translation reads: “The meeting with ‘Liza’ was successful. She was in a good mood….”

1 “It is so humiliating to me”: Dodd, Diary , 276.

2 “With Germany united”: Dodd to Hull, Aug. 30, 1934, Box 44, W. E. Dodd Papers.

3 “In my judgment, the German authorities”: Dodd to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Aug. 27, 1934, Box 44, W. E. Dodd Papers.

4 “If Woodrow Wilson’s bones”: Dallek, 279.

5 “the delicate work of watching”: Dodd, Diary , 216.

6 “What in the world is the use”: Phillips, Diary, n.d., 1219.

7 “That you have found me”: Kershaw, Myth , 82.

8 “With armies increasing in size”: Dodd to Hull, Sept. 19, 1936, Box 49, W. E. Dodd Papers.

9 “You must not mention to anyone”: Dodd to Martha, Oct. 28, 1936, Box 62, W. E. Dodd Papers.

10 “Dodd has many admirable and likeable qualities”: William C. Bullitt to Roosevelt, Dec. 7, 1936, in Bullitt, 194–95.

11 “Personally, I cannot see”: Moffat, Diary, Aug. 27, 1934.

12 “attacking me violently”: Dodd, Diary , 371.

13 “My position is difficult”: Ibid., 372.

14 “I thought of you, my dear”: Mrs. Dodd to Dodd, July 25, 1937, Box 62, W. E. Dodd Papers.

15 “spread over the nerve connections”: Dodd, Diary , 334.

16 “at sixty-five one must take stock”: Dr. Thomas R. Brown to Dodd, March 7, 1935, Box 46, W. E. Dodd Papers.

17 “It was quite obvious that something had happened”: Messersmith, “Visits to Berlin,” unpublished memoir, 10, Messersmith Papers.

18 “I think he was so thoroughly appalled”: Ibid., 10.

19 “speak the truth about things”: Dodd, Diary , 426.

20 “I have long believed Welles was opposed to me”: Ibid., 427.

21 “I have not the slightest doubt”: R. Walton Moore to Dodd, Dec. 14, 1937, Box 52, W. E. Dodd Papers.

22 “desired to make it plain”: Dallek, 313.

23 Hyde Park—“a marvelous place”: Dodd, Diary , 428–29.

24 “In Berlin once more.”: Dodd, Diary , 430.

25 “Much as the President regrets any personal inconvenience”: Hull to Dodd, Nov. 23, 1937, Box 51, W. E. Dodd Papers.

26 “Until now I have lived with the memory”: Boris to Martha, April 29, 1938, Box 10, W. E. Dodd Papers.

27 They became engaged: Chicago Daily Tribune , Sept. 5, 1938; New York Times , Sept. 5, 1938; Weinstein and Vassiliev, 61; Vassiliev, Notebooks, White Notebook #2, 56, July 9, 1938,

28 “You know, honey”: Weinstein and Vassiliev, 61; Vassiliev, Notebooks, White Notebook #2, 56, July 9, 1938. In Weinstein and Vassiliev, the translation reads “honey”; in the notebooks, “darling.”

29 She never learned that Boris’s last letter: Weinstein and Vassiliev, 61–62.

1 “must face the sad fact”: New York Times , Dec. 23, 1937.

2 “Mankind is in grave danger”: New York Times , Jan. 14, 1938.

3 “I personally felt quite strongly”: Moffat, Diary, Jan. 14, 1938.

4 “Great Britain,” he said: New York Times , Feb. 22, 1938.

5 “I do wish we were all nearer together”: Mrs. Dodd to Martha, Feb. 26, 1938, Box 63, Martha Dodd Papers.

6 “So far I can’t get anything done”: Mrs. Dodd to Martha, April 26, 1938, Box 1, Martha Dodd Papers.

7 “Wish I did have a home”: Mrs. Dodd to Martha, May 23, 1938, Box 1, Martha Dodd Papers.

8 “It was the greatest shock”: Dodd, Diary , 446.

9 “the strain and terror of life”: Dodd, Embassy Eyes , 370.

10 “to kill them all”: Bailey, 192, 194.

11 “could scarcely believe”: Breitman and Kraut, 230.

12 “My hunch is that you have lots of chances”: Sigrid Schultz to Dodd, Nov. 30, 1938, Box 56, W. E. Dodd Papers.

13 “It was not my fault”: For details on this episode, see New York Times , Dec. 9 and Dec. 10, 1938; March 3 and May 7, 1939; Bailey, 195–96; Dallek, 332.